Monday, July 25, 2011

Moving causes you to throw away a whole lot of "stuff" (I prefer stuff over junk!). Apparently, I'm really good at keeping every birthday card, note, and ticket of every event in my life. As I'm cleaning out a ton of my things, I have found several items that are definitely worth keeping. I've been sending a lot of pictures to people recently of my wonderful little "treasures."

There was one box that contained a bunch of stuff from middle school/high school that I had just decided could all be trashed. I opened it up and showed my dad that it could all just be thrown away, when he pointed to a book and said, "What's that?" I told him it wasn't a book and just a journal that I'd written only 5 pages in. I opened it up to the front cover and I had written "This journal is dedicated to: Uncle Roger." My uncle Roger passed away in 1995; as a 7 year old, it was my first real experience with death. I loved him so much, and I loved our families together so much. We were the "Lindstrom girls" and our dads were the "camera men." I immediately decided it was worth keeping and maybe I should read a little more closely. So yesterday when I was sitting in my apartment going through boxes, I remembered this little journal. The first date I wrote down was in 1997, but the journal entry that caught my eye was in April of 2000. That would make me 11 and in the 6th grade at the time. I wrote a little poem. I even wrote a rough draft where I scratched words out and added words in and drew arrows from here to there; and then on the next page I had my final copy.

In Heaven With the AngelsOne day up above,in a place full of lovemy Uncle was sitting beside me,in a quiet place under the trees.Confused was I at first,But I knew this place was the bestnot the worst.

I had a great feeling inside,that someone would lead me, be my guide.I knew all the time someone was at my side,I knew this was a place where no one cried.

I knew this was the happiest place of all,everyone was here because they answered the call.To love and trust Jesus Christ,Trust him with your heart, your soul, and your life.

The first place I remember now is the manger,and I know now there are no strangers.I hear the bells go jingle-jangle,because I'm in Heaven with all of the Angels.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I had the privilege of being my dear friend, Taylor Hubbard's maid of honor in her wedding on July 16th. She was one of the first people I ever met when I first moved to The Colony.

We kept in touch through all of our college years. We had the bachelorette party in Austin the weekend before, so I spent 2 solid, back to back weekends in Austin/Kyle. The group of bridesmaids got along excellently for no one knowing each other. We laughed and joked both weekends long and were proud to stand next to Taylor's side! It was an outside wedding and there was a lot of sweating involved, but it was a fantastic time! I pray that God will bless their marriage and look over them this first year of marriage! Enjoy the pictures!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

One of the largest conferences in the state of Texas! There were over 2000 math teachers at the Gaylord in Grapevine this week!! It was crazy. I've already talked to some of you about it, but its one of those almost too overwhelming experiences that you never want to do again, but will. I am exhausted after the three days and am glad it's not a whole week of sessions!

The biggest thing I learned all week was: I will never be one of those teachers who rolls a little box cart behind them. ha! I'm not kidding. I don't care how much stuff I have, it's not going to happen!! Mark my word.

But, for real. I did get several awesome tips/ideas for this next school year. One thing I had never heard of was "Whole Brain Teaching." It's teaching all concepts using gestures. Everything you do has a gesture along with it and it sticks in the little adolescent mind and helps them remember the objective! I'm not sure if I'm going to do it 100%, but I've already written down several concepts (like scale factor, scientific notation, and pythagorean theorem) that I will definitely use the gestures for. It's just one more different way of expressing a concept that might stick with different students! I, of course, went to a "songs" session and got a few more songs/chants to incorporate. My favorite one goes to the beat of the "Hillshire Farms" commercials and the students repeat it after me. It's going to be awesome.

I said Pythagorean Theorem.I said, a squared + b squared = c squaredI said, short leg + the long leg = the hypotenuseI said, the hypotenuse is the longest sideWhen I say Pythagorean, you say Theorem,Pythagorean, PythagoreanGo Math!!

ha hopefully you got the idea? Overall, it was a good conference, but I'm ready to move on to the rest of my plans for the summer! School will be here before we know it!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

This weekend I will be in Austin for the Hubbard/Moore wedding. I will do a post wedding blog with pictures for everyone to see, but first I wanted to tell everyone about an important day coming up: my birthday!!! :) ha I'm really not one of those crazy birthday people, but I do like to celebrate a little bit. My birthday falls on Friday, which happens to be the rehearsal dinner. So I will be spending my birthday road tripping to Kyle, Tx and supporting a very old friend. For this reason, I wanted a killer dress to wear for my birthday night. My sweet Daddy took me shopping and I bought a dress that I am seriously, absolutely,ridiculously in love with. If I could love a boy half this much, I would marry him. :) Caroline came with us to offer her expert opinion and said when I came out that I resembled Kate Middleton. I know my front office (who all call me Kate) would go crazy over it! ha So, on Friday, me and my Kate Middleton dress are headed off for a wonderful, wedding-filled weekend! Here it is:

Monday, July 11, 2011

This is what my room is starting to look like!! I feel like this is my last week to really get things together! I am leaving early Friday morning to go back down to San Marcos for the wedding weekend of Taylor Hubbard and Nick Moore (I was there this past weekend for the bachelorette party! It will get its own blog later!). When I get back from the wedding festivities, I have my big math conference, CAMT, starting bright and early that Monday morning. The only good thing about this is I get to spend time at the Gaylord in Grapevine, one of the most beautiful places ever! Then at the end of the week, I move!! I'm starting to remember little things I need, like a trash can for the kitchen and did I bring my shower rod back from Waco or leave it there? Overall, I really have enjoyed the whole moving process and am getting super excited for my very first apartment!

I have so much to do and so much to accomplish before then annnnnd I still have to finish my Harry Potter marathon this week! :) Yay priorities!! This is my goal for the move:

Monday, July 4, 2011

I love fireworks!! They make me so happy and Kaboomtown last night was awesome! One of my favorite things about the 4th of July (besides it being close to my birthday) is the patriotic music! I love it and am always reminded of the musical selection I sang with Mike Harland called "America, we Must Not Forget." It is an amazing collection of songs that he wrote with titles like: "Let the Words of Freedom Ring", "Song for the Heroes", "God, Have Mercy", and "Pray for America." All of these songs have incredible meaning and still give me goosebumps when I hear them.

Everyone have a wonderful holiday! I'm off to spend my day at the lake!!